Freddie King

The Texas Cannonball who taught British blues rock to roar

Freddie King was born in Gilmer, Texas, in 1934 and learned guitar as a child from his mother and her brother. The Texas blues of his youth shaped his sound, and when his family moved to Chicago in the late 1940s he soaked up the city's electric blues, studying players such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker and Elmore James. He worked in steel mills by day and played the South and West Side clubs at night, absorbing a blend of Texas swing and Chicago grit that became uniquely his own.

After early singles for small Chicago labels, he signed with Federal, a subsidiary of King Records, and in 1960 cut a remarkable run of recordings in Cincinnati. Hide Away, an instrumental released in 1961, reached number five on the R&B chart and crossed into the pop top 30, rare for a blues guitar record. He followed it with instrumentals such as The Stumble and San-Ho-Zay and vocal sides including I'm Tore Down and Have You Ever Loved a Woman, a body of work that became essential study for young guitarists on both sides of the Atlantic.

Those records landed with particular force in Britain. Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor all learned from them, and Clapton recorded Hide Away with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. King moved to Atlantic's Cotillion label in the late 1960s, then signed with Leon Russell's Shelter Records, where Getting Ready... (1971) and later albums presented him as a heavy, rock-friendly blues powerhouse. His version of Going Down became a standard among rock bands.

In the mid-1970s he moved to RSO, the label that also handled Clapton, releasing Burglar (1974) and touring with Clapton's band. He kept up a punishing schedule, often playing around three hundred nights a year, and his health suffered badly. He died in Dallas in December 1976 at just 42, from complications of stomach ulcers and pancreatitis. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, with ZZ Top doing the honours.

The 10 greatest Freddie King solos

1. 1
   Hide Away

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1961
2. 2
   The Stumble

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1961
3. 3
   Going Down

   Freddie King · solo by Freddie King · 1971
4. 4
   Have You Ever Loved a Woman

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1960
5. 5
   I'm Tore Down

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1961
6. 6
   San-Ho-Zay

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1961
7. 7
   Palace of the King

   Freddie King · solo by Freddie King · 1971
8. 8
   Same Old Blues

   Freddie King · solo by Freddie King · 1971
9. 9
   I Love the Woman

   Freddy King · solo by Freddie King · 1961
10. 10
    Woman Across the River

    Freddie King · solo by Freddie King · 1973

The sound

Freddie King combined the stinging, swinging single-note style of Texas with the tougher, amplified drive of Chicago. He picked with a plastic thumb pick and a metal pick on his index finger, which gave his notes a percussive, almost metallic snap and let him mix bass lines and lead phrases. His instrumentals are built from catchy, hummable themes, while his solos use wide vibrato, aggressive bends and quick, repeated figures. On his 1970s records he played louder and heavier, a style that fed directly into British blues rock.

• Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (guitar) His main guitar in the early years, fitted with P-90 pickups, heard on the classic Federal sides.
• Gibson ES-335 (guitar) One of the semi-hollow Gibsons he adopted as his career progressed.
• Gibson ES-345 (guitar) A stereo-equipped semi-hollow model he also played.
• Gibson ES-355 (guitar) The high-end semi-hollow he favoured in his later career.
• Plastic thumb pick and metal finger pick (accessory) Central to his sharp, biting attack on the strings.

Covers

• Going Down, originally by Moloch (written by Don Nix) His version eclipsed the original and became the definitive reading.
• Key to the Highway, originally by Big Bill Broonzy He gave the folk-blues classic a strong electric band arrangement.
• Dust My Broom, originally by Robert Johnson Played with the Elmore James drive that King admired, but with his own biting tone.
• Worried Life Blues, originally by Big Maceo Merriweather A Chicago standard delivered with soulful vocals and fluid fills.
• Ain't No Sunshine, originally by Bill Withers He turned the soul hit into a moody, guitar-soaked blues.

Timeline

• 1934 Born on 3 September in Gilmer, Texas
• 1949 Family moves to Chicago, where he immerses himself in the blues scene
• 1960 Signs with Federal Records and records in Cincinnati
• 1961 Hide Away becomes a top-five R&B and pop crossover hit
• 1961 Releases the album Freddy King Sings
• 1971 Joins Leon Russell's Shelter Records and releases Getting Ready...
• 1974 Releases Burglar on RSO and tours with Eric Clapton
• 1976 Dies in Dallas on 28 December, aged 42
• 1982 Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
• 2012 Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by ZZ Top

Facts

1. His early records were credited to Freddy King, with a y, before he switched spellings.
2. Hide Away reached number five on the R&B chart and number 29 on the pop chart, rare success for a blues instrumental.
3. He picked with a plastic thumb pick and a metal pick on his index finger.
4. Eric Clapton said hearing I Love the Woman was a turning point in his guitar playing.
5. He toured for close to three hundred days a year in his final years.
6. He was only 42 when he died.
7. Texas declared 3 September 1993 as Freddie King Day.
8. Hide Away is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of songs that shaped rock and roll.
9. Rolling Stone ranked him 19th in its 2023 list of the greatest guitarists.
10. ZZ Top inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Freddie King